Electronic commerce (a.k.a., e-commerce) technology holds the promise of introducing efficiencies into marketplace and trading activities by automating many trading activities, providing near real-time information to both buyers and sellers and providing convenient channels between buyers and sellers.
One example of the e-commerce technology is network-based auction facilities allowing buyers to bid on products and services offered by sellers. In an auction environment only a person who places the highest bid on a particular product or service will be able to purchase that product or service. The unsuccessful bidders who are still interested in obtaining a similar product or service through the same transaction facility are required to search the remaining available items offered for sale through the facility. The transaction facility may contain a large number of items to be searched by the unsuccessful bidders. In addition, in some situations in order to obtain a list of similar items, an unsuccessful bidder has to conduct a sophisticated search requiring an accurate choice of keywords.